GURGAON: A civil court will on Wednesday hear a petition filed by a real estate company against villagers for allegedly encroaching upon its land, which falls under Mangar Bani, a sacred grove spread in an area of 350 acres in Faridabad, next to the Gurgaon border.

The case was filed on April 26, a day after the NCR Planning Board marked Mangar Bani area and a 500-metre buffer zone around it as a "no-construction zone".

In another petition, the same developer, along with some others, in the quasi judicial court of the local tehsildar has sought permission to convert the 'gair mumkin pahar' (uncultivable forested hills), as the land in the region is known as, into agricultural land. However, the villagers and environmentalists claim these court cases are an attempt to divert the forest area.

According to villagers, construction work that is at the centre of the litigation is taking place at temple that they claim is centuries old. "We were carrying out repairs as the old structure, which is more than 150 years old, was falling apart," said Sunil Harsana, a villager.

Environmentalist Chetan Aggarwal said, "Legally, the developer may challenge the claims of villagers in the court but the forest land can't be used by anyone, not even by a real estate developer for any construction purpose."

On Wednesday, the villagers will also have to file their response in the court on why they have been carrying out construction.

A local leader Naresh Sharma and son of state labour minister Shivcharan Sharma added, "The forest is a sacred place for the locals. No one does any construction here. We can't pluck even a leaf for our use. The current litigation is a ploy to harass the locals."

Latest Realty News

Buoyed by the growing popularity of online shopping in India, the e-commerce market, which is expected to reach $ 20 billion by 2020, will see companies investing close to $ 2 billion in logistics, infrastructure and warehousing in the next six years, a study said

The union urban development ministry and Delhi government will come out with an action plan with fresh guidelines to regularize all unauthorized colonies in Delhi. This work will be wrapped up in the next few months before assembly polls in the city

Deepak (name changed) had invested in a 2-BHK apartment at Vatika India Next in Sector 82, hoping it would be his dream home in Millenium City with all modern facilities, while he lived in a rented pad in the capital. The project, however, has been delayed and he says he is now being forced to take possession without a grant of occupation certificate (OC)

Steep rentals and lack of quality retail real estate at strategic locations near high-income neighbourhoods are making it hard for luxury brands to expand their business in the country in a viable manner, forcing many players to tweak their business plans and go slow

Indians have been ranked first among foreign investors in Dubai's real estate sector, making a total of 4,417 transactions worth nearly USD 3 billion in the first half of the year, according to an official report.

The government of Uttar Pradesh has signed an agreement with the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) Development Corporation for the creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which will oversee the creation of an integrated industrial township spread over 750 acres in the Greater Noida region

About 100 residents of Panchkula held a protest near the upcoming Ess Vee Apartments in Sector 20 on Sunday, alleging that the builder had not given them possession of apartments although they had paid 90 per cent of the cost

With the rise in urbanization, many people in India now rush towards urban areas to settle down. And as such, property rates in major Indian cities are witnessing sharp rise between June 2012 and May 2014, according to data by real estate firm research firm PropEquity.